Commentary
In the article linked here, Jennifer Bailey, DVM, shares what medications can be given to a dog to relieve allergy symptoms. The article is a red flag for our team because it empowers pet owners to use the information to medicate their dogs outside of the veterinary-client relationship.
Given the many possible reasons for allergies, the article fails to emphasize the importance of diagnosing the problem before treating it under the direction of a veterinarian.
Source: Whole Dog Journal, May 16, 2024. Link.
INSIGHTS: Too much information in the hands of an animal owner could cause more harm than good. We recommend discussing the article with team members to prepare them for encounters with pet owners who have self-medicated their dogs.
I love your bulletin, but I respectfully 100% disagree with your perspective.
Pet owners should be informed about the care of their animals, and suggesting that “too much information” is potentially harmful is 1) insulting to pet owners – they should never be kept in the dark, and 2) only relevant if the resource is incorrect and/or missing pertinent information.
This Whole Dog Journal article is written by a veterinarian (an industry colleague, if you will). Why should other veterinarians discourage this type of content from being seen by their clients? More information is empowering, and through my over 30+ years of consulting on client communications, a better-informed client (in any industry) is more engaged and often more inclined to take the advice given to them by a trusted professional because they’ve done their homework.
Veterinary teams need to earn the right to be a trusted advisor; they shouldn’t be afraid to discuss any misinformation or good information that is contrary to their advice, and they should encourage their clients to do their homework from qualified resources should they wish to. Recommending high-quality resources isn’t prevalent enough in vet med, given that the Internet is full of misinformation.
Our Preventive Vet veterinary team sees no issue with this article and believes that most of what’s listed is information that a veterinarian would be imparting anyway in an exam room. While the article, in our opinion, is not written in a pet-owner-friendly way, i.e., it’s a bit too medical, it is a known fact that pet owners will often try OTC first (and some veterinarians recommend that option first as well), then if it doesn’t work, they’ll go to the vet, often sooner to get advice on what may work. Why should a responsible online resource not suggest OTC, especially in a pinch? For some derm issues (as with others), comfort can be achieved until a vet visit is scheduled.
The veterinary profession, industry, and vet med media must start embracing client education and guiding their clients and readers to helpful online resources. Exam times don’t allow for complex question and answer sessions, so ~100% of clients search online before and after a vet visit; so why not encourage this instead of outright suggesting too much information is harmful? In our team’s view this is antiquated and possibly harmful thinking.
Thank you for your kind words about the AHD Bulletin. We have noted your perspective and appreciate the feedback. We do embrace client education and provide content in that context routinely.